Wow, what a week it’s been. The hellhole that we’re renting while our house is being built has been overcome by fumes yet again. A couple of weeks ago we had maggots falling from the ceiling, on further investigation it turned out to be a dead possum. The maggot man told us that there were holes everywhere that needed patching up but it still hasn’t been done. Now apparently the smell is the blood from said possum which has seeped into the insulation and the plaster. Oh joy! We’ve only got a couple of more months here otherwise I’d suggest moving somewhere else ’til our house is ready. Anyway, he lifted the insulation and put bleach onto the plaster which has made the smell go away. Maybe now they’ll do something about the roof.
I’ve been trying to pack up but I’ve now been told I have a huge gallstone which has been hurting my back a lot. And of course I haven’t wanted to be here this week because of the smell. Anyway, I’ve been very frazzled and not coping very well. Yesterday I raced back to our primary school to catch the last few minutes of assembly only to end up in tears. I know I don’t have to go to assembly every week but I have gone every Friday for the last seven years and I don’t like to miss them. It’s not fair on my other kids that I can’t go to their assembly because I have to drive Beth all the way to Dandenong. I don’t want them to think that it’s always Beth that comes first. Yet I can’t be in two places at once. I know I made the decision to send Beth to her school and I don’t regret it one bit but sometimes I feel like I’m being pulled from all sides.
Anyway, I took Bridie to the psychologist again on Wednesday. She was still having assessments but Jill tells me that Bridie is scoring higher than average on most things that are IQ related. They do say there’s a fine line between genius and aspergers don’t they? She’s not a genius at all but I have heard that people with higher IQ’s have similar anxiety issues to aspergers kids. Anyway, she clearly has high anxiety so next time I go to see Jill it will just be me so we can discuss where to go from here. At least I feel like I am doing something.
Beth is continuing with her teenage attitude, calling me a Goddamned Son of a Bitch the other night! Little bugger, she wasn’t impressed when the ipad was promptly taken from her, saying that I had got it wrong, that she didn’t know what it meant, that she didn’t mean it, sorry, sorry, sorry, can I have my ipad back now?! She hasn’t said it since so hopefully she’s learned her lesson, at least until the next time.
Some good things have happened this week so I’ll end on a happy note. Beth got the class award at assembly this week. This was for ‘Listening and following instructions well during class time.” A great one for her as she finds it difficult to do these things. I’m very proud of her. Also, she’s voluntarily joined the school choir. I spoke with the music teacher this week as I had put Beth’s name down for drum lessons and hadn’t heard anything. He said that they had been inundated with applications and we discussed how much Beth loved music and performing so he may have suggested choir to her. She’s quite talented when it comes to music so I hope they recognise that.
Also on a positive note, I spoke with our middle school coordinator about starting a type of support group with the middle school mums. She ran it by our principal and he thought it was a great idea, so we’re starting a coffee afternoon on Tuesdays an hour or so before pickup. I really like some of the mums that I have met there but as we all live at different ends of the earth it’s hard to catch up. As we’re there for pickup it’s a perfect time to have a quick natter. Also, there a some parents who I’m sure aren’t sure about others. It’s a scary time when your kids start high school for anybody but when you’re in a setting that you don’t know anybody, and it’s not even in your local area it can be very overwhelming. There are no doubt other mums like me who haven’t had their kids in a special school setting either. All of these things combined can be hard to get your head around. Hopefully we can get a few mums to come along to our coffee afternoons so they don’t feel like they are alone. Friends are who have got me through this journey so far, I’m not sane at the best of times but they’ve helped me not go too crazy!
